Portable elevator.



H. B. ROSS.

PORTABLE ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED DEc.4. 191s.

Patented July 9, 1918.

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H. B. ROSS.

PORTABLE ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4, 1916.

latented July 9, 1918.

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PORTABLE ELEVATOR.

APPLlCATION FILED DEC. 4. 191a.

Patented July 9, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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/%4 ATTORNEY HARRY B. ROSS, OF BENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN.

PORTABLE ELEVATOR.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY B. Ross, a citi-' zen of the United States, residing at Benton Harbor, in the county of Berrien and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in portable elevators and, more especially, to the lumber-grappling and hoisting devices, and is designed,more particularly, for use on motor trucks such as illustrated and describedin my patent application, Serial No. 837,613, filed in the U. S. Patent Office May 11, 1914.

The main object of the invention is the provision of apparatus of this character whereby a load. may be conveniently and reliably hoisted for transporting.

A further object of the invention is to provide an elevator with manually applied load-grappling features including equalizing devices which afi'ord independent movements to the grappling hooks to enable the same to accommodate themselves to various positions of a load relative to the truck.

A still further object of the invention is the rovision of mechanism which serves in the oisting of a load to automatically lock the grappling devices against accidental disengagement.

i To these and-other ends, the invention consists in the novel construction, adaptation and combination of parts as will be herein-v after described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a truck with my invention applied theretb. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken through 22 of Fig. 1 showing-one side of the elevator and a grappling hook thereof in position engageable with a-pile of lumber. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of the opposite side of the elevator and representing the latter somewhat raised and carrying a load. Figs. 4 and 5 are detail sectional views to an enlarged. scale through 44 and 55 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the truck, shown partly broken away and parts omitted to illustrate the arrangement of the elevator hoisting appliances and the mechanism for regulating the operation. of the grappling devices. Fig. 7 is a sectional 'view through 7-7 of Fig. 6.

The body of the truck, to which the present invention is applied, is formed with a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented- July 9, 1918.

Application filed December 4, 1916. Serial :No. 134,802.

rigid frame of an inverted U-shape in transverse section andv is supported upon wheels substantially as illustrated and described in the above mentionedpatent application.

According to this invention, I provide four lifting hooks 1, two at each side of the truck, and movable vertically in guides which are desirably formed of angle bars. The upper portions 2 of these guides are fixedly secured at their ends to the frame members 3 and 4 The lower portion of each guide has its complementary angle-bar elements 5 coupled at their upper and lower ends by being secured to castings 6 and 7 and is arranged for lateral swinging movements by means of a pin 8 hingedly connecting the respective casting 6 with an attachment 9 secured to a frame member 4 A hook 1 is provided with a shank 10 which is hingedly connected by a pin 11 with A a lug 12 which depends from a pulley-block 13. Each of the hooks is caused tobear against the guide bar flanges 5 by having the shank 10 thereof interposed between the latter and serving as a spacing element between a- -hook and a plate 14 secured to the opposite side of the shank. The pulleyblocks 13 are providedwith grooves 13 to geceive the flanges 2 of the upper guidears.

In each block is a sheave 15 rotatable upon a pin 16 and running under the sheaves are hoisting ropes 17, each having an end connected to an eye-bolt 18 supported upon a spring 19 which is borne by a bracket 20 of a frame-member 3. The otherfends of said hoisting ropes, after passing over guide sheaves 21. are secured to winding drums 22,

there being two at each end of a transverse shaft 23 which is journaled in bearing boxes 24 provided on the frame.

25 is a spur gear mounted loosely on said shaft and engageable therewith by suitable clutchdevices such as complementary clutch elements 26 and 26 of which the latter is splined to the shaft and isshifted into and out of couple with its mate by means of a forked lever 27 extending into convenient reach of the operators seat 28.-

As illustrated, the gear 25 is rotated by a pinion 29 from a power-driven shaft 30 which may be the armature shaft of a motor, indicatedby 31 in Fig. 1. Carried by each pulley-block 1s a stop ing its lower portion machined to make a I screw 32 which isthreaded in a nut 33 havarm 35.

'sltion, as regulated by adjusting the nut; 33.

sliding fit in abracketarm 34 of'the block while'the screw is guided inanother block- 36 represents a helical spring acting between the block-arm 35 and a lock-nut 37 superposed upon the nut 33 and serves to yieldingly hold-the bolt in itslowermost po- 7 'In lowering, the blocks are arrestedby the screws 32 coming into contact with the frame members 4 to prevent the respective,

from encountering the ground. The

ing therefrom are, moreover, afforded by' the springs 36 a cushion support when the v truck is traveling in an empty. condition with the hooks in their lowered position. When the hooks are released they are automatically swung outwardly with the guides '5, as shown In Fig. 2, by means of springs 38, one end of each being attached to the truck-frame and'its other end connected by a link 39 to an arm 6 provided on the respective casting 6 by means of a pin 40. s The hooks are swung inwardly to engage aload .by means of push-rods 40 connecting the pins 40 with-actuating mechanism which Iv will now describe.

, 41 represent rocker shafts, one on each side of the truck frame, havin fixedly secured tothe rear end of each %see Fig. 6) an arm 42 to which the upper end of the adjacent push-rod 40? is connected by a swivel pin 43. Y

"At its forward end each ofthe shafts 41 carries differential devices consisting of two v toothgear sectors 44 and 44 ,.the latter berod 40 i is connected by a swivel pin 43 ing keyed to the shaft and the other one, 44, is loosely mounted thereon and i provided with an arm 42 to which the adjacent push-' Intermediate a pair of sector gears meshing therewlth is a bevel pinion 45 which is rotatably mounted on an arm 46- which,

in turn, 1s loosely mounted on the shaft.

1 The arms 46 at-o'pposite sides'of the truck arelconnected by: links 47, 48 and 49 with lever arms 50 (Figs. ,2, 3 and 6) which'are keyed to axially alined transverse shafts 51- and 5.1 journaled I in boxes 52 and having their adjacent endsv extend into a hub 53 provided with an arm 53 'which is connected with a pedal lever 54 by a rod 55. Y Y

Said pedal lever is; furthermore connected with the shafts/51 and.51 by differential power transmission devices comprising toothed sector gears 56 and 56 cured to the respective shafts, and an intermediate pinion 57 which is rotatably mounted'on the hub arm 53 The object of the aforedescribed differential devices is to afford independent lateral movements to swingable lower portions of the guides 5 and the hooks which are car ried thereby so that where a load which is rests, reach the rigidly seto be engaged is not positioned centrally or squarely with the truck, all of the hooks will be forced into engaging positions independently of each other; that is to say, the

load regardless of how the same may lay under the truck,

Included in the invention are locking devices whose offices are to prevent the accidental disengagement of the hooks from a load and to obviate any lateral swaying of the load while in transit over an uneven road; Said lockingdevices each consist of a lever fulcrumed on a pivot-pin 59 and having, with respect to the truck frame, two inwardly dlrected arms 60 and 61 and an outwardly directed arm 62.

' Extending through the arm 62 is an adj ustable screw 63 which acts as a stop against the adjacent frame member 4 (F 3) when the lever is influenced by a spring 64 connecting with the lever arm 60 and aframe part 4 65. is a bolt held in a socket of the lever by a set screw 66 in its adjusted position as regulated by an adjustable screw 67 When-a block 13 is lowered, a screw 68 provided. thereon encounters the lever arm 61, forcing the same downwardly,'thereby causing the lower end of said bolt to be. moved outwardly, so as to be'clear of a-contact fin ger 69. provided on the arm 6 of the relatively-movable guide whereupon the spring 38 asserts'itself to swing the guide from the position in which it is illustrated in Fig. 3 to one corresponding to that shown in Fig. 2, which will occur immediately after the bolsters, such as B, upon which the load L ground and the hooks there by are released.

The operation of the invention may be ex lained as follows: 1

- ith the hooks 1 held in open position (Fig. 2) by the springs 38, the truck is moved over aload L and stopped with the hooks opposite the bolsters B. Theioperator then presses the pedal lever 54 with his foot to' exercise through themedium of the rod 55 rocker shafts 41. The arms 42 and 42 are thus caused to act in unison to force the respective rods 40 downwardly and thereby swerve the guides 5 and hooks 1 inwardly. Any of the hooks, however, may be arrested anai? by coming into contact with a bolster or the load without impeding the other hooks be cause the pinions 45 and 57 of the differential devices are ,capable of rotating to equalizethe contending forces.

When the trucker the load are supported upon an uneven surface, a hook in closing may strike against the end of a bolster 1n-. stead of passing therebelow and in such event the hook may be depressed in opposition to a spring 36 by the attendant bearing down upon the hook with his foot or by means of a lever.

After the hooks are engaged, the operator continues to hold them in such posit1ons by maintaining foot pressure against the pedal lever 54 until the shoes are elevated by the aforedescribed 'hoistin mechanism to cause the weight of the 10a to be borne by the hooks which are thereby held in operative position.

After theload is raised several inches from the ground, the screws 68 are with drawn from the lever arms 61,, whereupon the springs 64 restore the trip levers to their normal positions (Fig. 3) and accordingly present the bolts 65. above the fingers 69 of the respective guides topositively prevent the guides swinging outwardly and dropping the load accidentally.

The construction and operation of the invention will, it is thought, be understood from the foregoing description,

What 1 claim, is-

1. In apparatus of the class described, the

combinationwiththe vehicle frame, of guide bars hingedly connected to said frame, means connected-with said bars for swinging the same laterally of the frame, load-engageable devices slidably connected to said guide bars,

and means for efiecting the vertical movements of saidldevices. v

'2. lnapparatus of the class described, the

combinat on with the vehicle frame, of grappling devices comprising, opposmg'hooks disposed at opposite sides of theframe,

means operative yconnected with said hooks for movmg them dividually or-collectively into load-engagingpositions, and means for efielcitsing' the vertical movements of' said hoo I 3. In apparatus of the class described, the

combination with a vehicle frame, of load- {I grappling devices connected thereto forrela5 t1ve horlzontal' and vert cal movements, manually actuated means for controlling the horizontal movements of said grappling de-v .j vices to thereby engage a load, power-actu ated means for efiecting the vertical'move ments of said grappling devices,and means rendered operative in the elevation ofsaid,

- gr'appling devices for locking the same against accidentally releasing the load. 4. ln apparatus o combination with a supporting frame, ointed guides secured thereto, grappling devices and means for raising and lowering the same subject to the action of said guides, of means frames, hoisting devices for raising and lowering said hooks, springs tending to swing said guide-frames outwardly, means to releasably secure said guide-frames against outward swinging movements, and means rendered operable in the lowering of the grappling hooks whereby the first named means are rendered temporarily inoperative to enable said springs to swing the guideframes outwardly. a

6. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with grappling devices having hook elements arranged-for relative opening and closing movements, and means for elevating and lowering said grappling devices, of means rendered operative in the lowering'of said devices for automatically effecting the opening movements of the same, meansto efi'e'ct the closing movements of said devices for engaging a load, and means vices, means rendered operative by the load encountering the groundwhereby the grappling devices are released. from the load, and springs serving to swing the grappling devices outwardly when released from the load.

8. 'ln apparatus of the class described, the

combination-with a frame and guides hingedly connected thereto for lateral move ment's, grappling devices slidable in the respective guides, springs tending to yieldingly hold said guides and grappling devices in their outer guides inward y to cause the grappling de- .;Ivices to engage a load means to elevate said lg'rappling devices for hoisting the load, and

means rendered operative after the load has been raised a short distance to positively prevent the grappling devices from becoming of the class described,tha

disengaged from the load and until the latter has been lowered,

positions, mean'sto swing said.

' tically in the respective guides,

rope for each of said hooks,

9 In apparatus of the classdescribed, the combination with a truck frame, power-; driven drums carried on the frame, pulley blocks, and load-engaging hooks depending y from the respective. blocks, of a. hoisting said ropes havmg one end f each connected with the thence passing under the pulley of com ination with a frame, and guides thereon, of load-engaging devices slidable ver,- pulley blocks. from which said devices re'spect1velydepend,-

power-driven drums, gnidehsheaves, hoist ing ropes for the respective grappling deropes having one end,

and thenover a guide sheave to have its other end connected to a drum.

. arranged for vertical and combination with the true tor having a plurality of load-grappling 1'1. Inapparatusof the class described, the combination with a frame, grappling devices lateral movements with respect tothe frame,and power-operated means to raise and lower'all of the grapof manually. actuated,

collectively or individually to engage a load. 12. In apparatus of the lass described, the

frame, an-elevaQ members, pulley-blocks supporting the reand closin devices may be moved 5 spective members, hoisting ropes therefor, means to operate the hoisting ropes for raising and lowerin said members through the medium of said locks, and spring-supp0rted devices carried by the blocks and engageablewith said frame for yieldingly holdlng said members at a selected elevation.

hook elements arranged for relative opening movements, and'means for elevating an lowering said grappling devices, of means rendered operative in the lowering ,of said devices for automatically effecting the opening movements of means to effect the closing said devices for enga 14. In apparatus 0 combination of a frame, grappling devices arranged for vertical and lateral movements with respect to said frame, means to elevate and lower'said grappling devices, operating means for collectively moving said devices inwardly with respect to for engaging 'nisms included in the last-named means to render said yieldable when engaging the load. Signed. at 4 day, of-Nov. 1916. t

the same, and movements of g aload.

the frame HARRY E. Ross.

the class described, the

grappling a load, and differential mechgrappling devices individually BentonHarbor, Mich .,'this'23 I 

